Best transportation business ideas to start with only 10K or less 

“I got some money saved up and I want to start a business what should I do? ” is one of the most common questions I get asked and most of my replies are the same, find a low-cost and low-risk business to start! And in most cases it comes down to the level of skills you have, are you more of a tech person or a hands person, are you a people person, do you like meeting and greeting or do you want to start a business where you won’t see your customers? All of these play a role in choosing what type of business you want to start! But to make things less complicated people want to know how to start a business with higher chances of succeeding

What is a low-risk business to start? 

The safest investment is starting a transportation business and I will go over some of my best transportation business ideas that can become a  long-term business and also make you over 100K if done right ….

TRANSPORTATION BUSINESS IDEAS TO MAKE MONEY 

How to think outside the box and come up with some innovative transportation business ideas? You have to see what’s working and what’s in demand, do a couple of searches if a lot of ads are appearing for that query it might just be a great business to start, like a junk removal business, for example, go ahead and check ill wait .... did a lot of ads appear? then it might mean you are on the right track, that's one example but we will get into all of that below so let us get the ball rolling, so you have 10k and it could have taken you 3 months to 3 years to save up that money, bravo to you! Because we know how hard it is,  I’ve been there it’s not easy and you don’t want it sitting in your safe until one day you end up spending it on a Rolex watch, you want to put it to work where that 10k  becomes 100k, and so on and so on, make that money flip! 

Can you start a transportation business from home? 

I got this question from a friend of mine who is a single father of 2 and wanted to start a trucking business but had a couple of setbacks he didn’t have a commercial driver’s license and second, he couldn’t leave his home for much, so I answered him simply Yes you can, and ill share it with you guys too, the best part of starting a transportation business from home is you don’t need to even own a truck or van, nor do you need to spend 10k you can become a freight brokerage agency and get paid commissions for each pick up made thru you, these can be small loads to big loads all you need is a simple set up.

SETUP TO GET STARTED

• Fright brokerage software

• Phone system 

• Business License 

• Subcontractors ( owner-operators) 

AVERAGE COMMISSIONS:

According to indeed the average broker in new york can make up to 62,105 a year, but this all depends on your thrive and how many freights you can dispatch a year 

I own a van what are some van transportation ideas? 

More like what business you cant start, most people don’t realize that owning a reliable and strong cargo van is money money money, if you own a van and it’s just sitting collecting dust or just using it for personal use you just might be missing out on an extra $75,000 a year, believe it or not, a cargo van value doesn’t go down I saw a cargo van that’s 2007 with 100k miles for around 19k its 2022! With that being said, you should start rolling up your sleeves because you are about to clean out that van after you read this.... below are some of my van transportation business ideas…

1. Amazon flex 

With the rise and expansion of amazon, amazon launched a hustle called  "amazon flex" to allow people to become subcontractors and use their vehicles or cargo vans to deliver amazon products to homes and businesses, you will need to sign up and qualify, go thru a background check and have a clean license but the pay is good and the best part is you can set your schedule.

Vehicle needed: Car, Van, or box truck ( the bigger the vehicle the more packages you can transport)

2. Junk removal

Junk removal is a big business, as I mentioned above you can tell by the number of ads appearing, you can haul junk from homes  like old equipment or any unwanted furniture, and get paid for your service, this requires a helper because they just pay and will not help load junk into your vehicle, debris junk may be doable on your own while others may be too heavy for one person

Vehicle needed: cargo van or box truck 

  3. Moving services 
People are always moving, whether it’s from an old apartment to a new one or an old office to a new office, moving services are a great hustle, if you utilized your van at the time of covid then I am pretty sure you made some money,  and the great part its a on a call-based service, so that means customers will come looking for you, all you need is to do is perform great service and after that, you will probably get some referrals from the customers you serviced, you can forget a few ads a month of google and social media, this can become a side hustle for you while you do what you do already! 

Vehicle needed: Medium-size box truck or sprinter 

I own a van but don’t have time to put it to use should I sell it? 

Selling is always a bad idea, especially when it comes to cargo vans or even box trucks, there are many ways to generate money from vans without even having to drive them, With smart technology and innovative thinking you can easily make money by either renting it out or even just hiring someone to do the work but I will explain more below, while you may not the see the use of it at the moment others do!  But selling it now may be a bad option unless you need the money then you got to handle that first, but if you don't then keep on reading, also selling your van will not get what you think you get because second-hand dealers will offer you the least amount. 

1.fluid.com 

Fluid allows you to rent out your cargo van, it’s simple and easy to open an account, once your account is set up you then can Install a lockbox that enables remote access, and then determine the times and days during which your vehicle will be available for rent, this is truly an innovative transportation business idea, you can keep your day job and make your cargo van make money for you.

2. Home depot deliveries

Even tho this service is not offered or affiliated with home depot, many shoppers go into these stores expecting to buy a lightbulb and end up coming out with a whole oven, and to have it delivered will take 3-4 days or longer but luckily they have some van owners that offer to deliver your new purchase straight to your destination if you have a cargo or box truck you hire a person to sit outside the parking lot and hand out business cards to customers walking in and out of the home depot, 2-3 deliveries can make you $300 a day.

3. Advertise on it 

 Ever driven around or walked around and seen a vehicle driving around with a digital billboard? Yes, money! All they do is drive around and get paid to advertise services on their screens, you can offer advertising by the mile or by the day, the setup may be a little expensive but it’s a long-term investment that will make you some passive money.

I don’t own a van but I own a car, can I still transport stuff?

The simple answer is yes, owning anything with wheels can make you money today, you don’t need a fancy truck or a van to transport stuff, and you can do it on rollerblades if you wanted to, but the real question is what are low-cost transportation ideas that can make me money?

Here are 5 low-cost transportation ideas

1. Uber eats 

Uber eats is a platform that offers food delivery to homes and businesses and with new services added every day, you have more ways to generate money, they started rolling out options to users like wine delivery and grocery as well, which can make you more money.

Vehicle needed: bicycle, scooter, or car 

  2. Grubhub

Grubhub is more similar to uber eats, but it’s very well used across the nation, you can turn this into a full-time hobby and earn money, this is a great low-cost transportation idea if you looking to get started.

Vehicle needed: bicycle, scooter, or car 

 3. Getir.com

Get is a new service that recently came out and became a hot business concept, the strategy for them is to get users groceries in minutes, they open little storefronts and stock up inventory so that when a user orders from the app it's ready to be transported in minutes on bikes.

Vehicle needed: bicycle, scooter, or car

4. Bicycle messenger 

Bicycle messengers still exmainlyally in busy cities like manhattan, they transport anything from letters to lightweight packages, you can start your own business and offer your services or you can work for a busy agency and get paid, an average bicycle messenger makes anywhere from $20k to $35 a year

Vehicle needed: bicycle 

 5. Supermarket catalogs 

Supermarkets are always looking to pay People with vans or bikes to drop their weekly sale catalog to homes within a certain radius of their businesses, you can get yourself 30-50 supermarkets by simply walking into one and asking for the manager, to see what they are paying now and if your rate is better they must use you. it is an ideal low-cost transportation business idea.

Vehicle needed: bike or a car

How to pick the right transportation business name?

Your transportation business name should be unique, simple, and stand out, when finding a business name for your transportation business you don't want it to be too long, and you should always include the words that fit your transportation business like logistics or courier or even hauling and the name before that should be anything you like, it can be a character or even your first name…

Another helpful tip is to always check to see if that name is available both on the business filing database and even a domain search, this is if you ever will need a website, its free to check, and once you find a domain you can buy it and park it for free on sites like GoDaddy until you are ready to build your cool website.

Conclusion: Starting a transportation business is a great venture, you can start with as little as $500 to get started, and all it takes is a set of wheels and good service, there are many different transportation business ideas you can even buy if you want to own an established business, the benefits of buying a transportation business is that it may come with customer contracts and trucks, this can give you a head start and all you have to do is keep building on top it, I hope you found this article helpful and some of these innovative transportation business ideas can help you get your trucking business going!